The script below is exceptionally slow. It ingests a JSON file and then does various DevonThink things to it.

If I feed it a small JSON file, each iteration of the main repeat loop is fairly quick (a second or so). If I feed it a larger file, the time for each iteration of the repeat loop increases, to as much as 30 seconds per iteration.

I assume this has to do with the data structures involved. I know very little about Applescript - any thoughts about how to optimise this?

use AppleScript version "2.4"
use scripting additions
use framework "Foundation"
-- all the settings should be here
set bibJSONFile to "/Users/lyndon/repo/workflow/zot-export-bbt.json"
--set thePListFile to "/Users/lyndon/repo/workflow/zotero-to-devonthink.plist"
set theTemplateFile to "/Users/lyndon/Library/Application Support/DEVONthink 3/Templates.noindex/Education/Reference LD.md"
set theDTDBFile to "/Users/lyndon/DevonThink/Research.dtBase2"
set theDTLocation to "/Library"
set theModName to "_mod_datetime_zotero.txt"
set theDictionaryName to "_dictionary_zoteroid_uuid.txt"
--
set ca to current application
property NSJSONSerialization : a reference to current application's NSJSONSerialization
property NSJSONWritingPrettyPrinted : a reference to 1
property NSData : a reference to current application's NSData
property NSString : a reference to current application's NSString
-- a helper method to replace any substring with a space
on remove:remove_string fromString:source_string
set s_String to NSString's stringWithString:source_string
set r_String to NSString's stringWithString:remove_string
return s_String's stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:r_String withString:" "
end remove:fromString:
set theJSONData to NSData's dataWithContentsOfFile:(bibJSONFile)
set theJSON to NSJSONSerialization's JSONObjectWithData:theJSONData options:0 |error|:(missing value)
set theCurrentTime to current date
set bibjson to theJSON as record
set therefs to |items| of bibjson
set mainDict to missing value
set theDictRecord to missing value
-- load up the previous data
tell application id "DNtp"
set theDatabase to open database theDTDBFile
set theLocation to create location theDTLocation in theDatabase
-- set mainDict to current application's NSMutableDictionary's dictionaryWithContentsOfFile:thePListFile
if mainDict is missing value then
set mainDict to current application's NSMutableDictionary's new()
end if
tell theLocation
set theDictPath to theDTLocation & "/" & theDictionaryName
set theDictRecord to get record at theDictPath
if theDictRecord is missing value then
set theDictRecord to create record with {name:theDictionaryName, type:"txt"} in theLocation
end if
if theDictRecord is not missing value then
set mainDictContents to plain text of theDictRecord
set mdStr to (ca's NSString's stringWithString:mainDictContents)
set mdDataDict to item 1 of (ca's NSJSONSerialization's JSONObjectWithData:(mdStr's dataUsingEncoding:(ca's NSUTF8StringEncoding)) options:0 |error|:(reference))
mainDict's setDictionary:mdDataDict
end if
end tell
-- set theChildGroups to {}
-- try
-- set theChildGroups to children of theLocation
-- end try
-- repeat with theChild in theChildGroups
-- if type of theChild is group then
-- set theZoteroIDString to get custom meta data for "zoteroid" from theChild
-- set theUUID to uuid of theChild
-- (mainDict's setObject:theUUID forKey:theZoteroIDString)
-- end if
-- end repeat
end tell
set limitCounter to 0
repeat with theRef in therefs
set limitCounter to limitCounter + 1
-- if (limitCounter > 20) then exit repeat
set {theKey, theTitle, theURI, theZoteroID, theDateModified} to {citationKey, title, uri, itemID, dateModified} of theRef
set theSelectURI to ""
try
set theSelectURI to |select| of theRef
end try
try
set theTitle to |shortTitle| of theRef
end try
set theZoteroIDString to theZoteroID as string
set theDOI to ""
try
set theDOI to DOI of theRef
end try
set theAbstract to ""
try
set theAbstract to abstractNote of theRef
end try
set theDate to ""
try
set theDate to |date| of theRef
set theReferenceYear to theDate
end try
set theURL to ""
try
set theURL to |url| of theRef
end try
set theCreators to ""
set multipleCreators to ""
try
repeat with theCreator in creators of theRef
try
set theCreators to theCreators & multipleCreators & |firstName| of theCreator & " " & |lastName| of theCreator & " (" & |creatorType| of theCreator & ")"
set multipleCreators to " and "
end try
end repeat
end try
set theTags to {}
try
repeat with theTagItem in tags of theRef
set theTags to theTags & tag of theTagItem
end repeat
end try
-- construct group name and look for a previous group in the dictionary
set theGroupFile to theKey & " " & theTitle
set theGroupFile to (my remove:"/" fromString:theGroupFile)
set theUUID to missing value
set theUUID to (mainDict's objectForKey:theZoteroIDString)
-- create or update the group
if theUUID is missing value then
tell application id "DNtp"
set theGroup to create location theDTLocation & "/" & theGroupFile
set theUUID to uuid of theGroup
end tell
else
set theUUID to theUUID as string
tell application id "DNtp"
set theGroup to get record with uuid theUUID
if theGroup is missing value then set theGroup to create location theDTLocation & "/" & theGroupFile
set the name of theGroup to ("" & theGroupFile)
set theUUID to uuid of theGroup
end tell
end if
-- create or update a summary file
set theSummaryName to ("___" & theGroupFile & ".md") as text
set theSummaryDate to theDate
set theSummaryPlaceholders to {|%reference%|:theTitle, |%authors%|:theCreators, |%date%|:theSummaryDate, |%citation%|:theKey, |%doi%|:theDOI, |%abstract%|:theAbstract, |%zoteroselect%|:theSelectURI}
tell application id "DNtp"
set theTempRecord to import theTemplateFile placeholders theSummaryPlaceholders to theGroup
set thePrevSummaryName to get custom meta data for "referencesummaryfile" from theGroup
if thePrevSummaryName is missing value or thePrevSummaryName = "" then
set theSummaryRecord to get record at (the location of theTempRecord) & theSummaryName
else
set theSummaryRecord to get record at (the location of theTempRecord) & thePrevSummaryName
end if
if theSummaryRecord is missing value then
set the name of theTempRecord to theSummaryName
set theSummaryRecord to theTempRecord
else
set theTempContent to the plain text of theTempRecord
set the plain text of theSummaryRecord to theTempContent
delete record theTempRecord
set the name of theSummaryRecord to theSummaryName
end if
end tell
(mainDict's setObject:theUUID forKey:theZoteroIDString)
tell application id "DNtp"
tell theGroup
set aliases to theKey
set tags to theTags
set URL to theSelectURI
set custom meta data to {referencesummaryfile:theSummaryName, DOI:theDOI, abstract:theAbstract, citekey:theKey, zoteroid:theZoteroID}
end tell
end tell
-- add attachments and bookmarks to the group
if theURL ≠ "" then
tell application id "DNtp"
set theBookmarkRecord to lookup records with URL theURL
if theBookmarkRecord is missing value or (count of theBookmarkRecord) is less than 1 then
create record with {name:theURL, type:bookmark, URL:theURL} in theGroup
end if
end tell
end if
set theAttachmentPath to ""
set attachmentList to {}
try
set attachmentList to attachments of theRef
end try
repeat with theAttachment in attachmentList
set theAttachmentPath to ""
set theAttachmentURI to ""
set theAttachmentURL to ""
set theAttachmentLinkMode to ""
try
set theAttachmentPath to |path| of theAttachment
end try
try
set theAttachmentURI to uri of theAttachment
end try
try
set theAttachmentURL to |url| of theAttachment
end try
try
set theAttachmentLinkMode to linkMode of theAttachment
end try
if theAttachmentPath ≠ "" then
tell application id "DNtp"
tell theGroup
set theAttachmentRecord to lookup records with path theAttachmentPath
if theAttachmentRecord is missing value or (count of theAttachmentRecord) is less than 1 then
set theAttachmentRecord to indicate theAttachmentPath to theGroup
else
set theAttachmentRecord to item 1 of theAttachmentRecord
end if
if theAttachmentRecord is not missing value then
set custom meta data of theAttachmentRecord to {DOI:theDOI, abstract:theAbstract, citekey:theKey, zoteroid:theZoteroID}
end if
end tell
end tell
else if theAttachmentLinkMode = "linked_url" then
tell application id "DNtp"
set theBookmarkRecord to lookup records with URL theAttachmentURL
if theBookmarkRecord is missing value or (count of theBookmarkRecord) is less than 1 then
create record with {name:theAttachmentURL, type:bookmark, URL:theAttachmentURL} in theGroup
end if
end tell
end if
end repeat
end repeat
set theMainDictJSONData to (NSJSONSerialization's dataWithJSONObject:mainDict options:NSJSONWritingPrettyPrinted |error|:(missing value))
set theMainDictJSONString to (ca's NSString's alloc()'s initWithData:theMainDictJSONData encoding:(ca's NSUTF8StringEncoding))
set theMainDictJSONStringAS to (theMainDictJSONString as text)
tell application id "DNtp"
tell theGroup
set plain text of theDictRecord to theMainDictJSONStringAS
-- (mainDict's writeToFile:thePListFile atomically:true)
end tell
end tell